RWE buys unfinished biomass project from Helius for USD28m

Fri Sep 26 2008, 17:48 PM UTC+01:00

German firm RWE Innogy is paying around USD28m for Helius Energy’s unfinished biomass plant project at Stallingborough, UK. Helius says it has spent USD5m in cash and assumed around USD2.5m in debt during two years developing the plant, so the deal gives the firm a total profit of around USD20m. RWE says it will invest a further EUR260m (USD380m) to complete the plant, which is scheduled to begin operations in 2011 with a capacity of 65MW. As part of the deal, Helius will receive 13% of the plant’s annual earnings for 24 years.

Deal Details

Helius says the plant will generate electricity by burning around 400,000 tonnes (441,000 tons) per year of waste wood, which will be sourced from forests, farms and industrial developments. According to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the UK produces between 5m and 10m tonnes per year of wood waste. In addition, Helius says the plant can use the by-products of cereal and oil farming as feedstock.

Helius Energy develops large biomass plants – between 50MW and 65MW in size – and smaller projects between 5MW and 8MW. The firm is hoping to build a 7MW combined heat and power plant in Scotland that will use waste from distilleries as feedstock. The company has offices in Grimsby, London and Gauteng, South Africa.

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